AGRI Preparing for Extreme Weather Grant Program 2025 (United States)

Grant funds are available to help Minnesota livestock and specialty crop producers buy and install supplies or equipment that will help make their production more resilient to extreme weather, including drought, flooding, hail, and severe weather events like storms, tornadoes, and straight-line winds.

Priorities 

• It is the policy of the State of Minnesota to ensure fairness, precision, equity, and consistency in competitive grant awards. This includes implementing diversity and inclusion in grant-making.
• This grant will specifically prioritize beginning farmers and farms owned or principally operated by beginning farmers. A beginning farmer is defined as someone who has farmed ten years or less.

Funding Information

• They expect to award approximately $500,000 in this round using a competitive review process.
• Applicants may apply for up to 50% of their project’s total cost with a minimum expense of $1,000 and a maximum expense of $20,000; grant awards can range in size from $500 to $10,000.
• An individual or farm may only receive one grant in FY 2025.

Eligible Expenses

• Eligible items include, but are not limited to purchase and installation of the following:
  • Livestock operations
    • Water tanks and pads
    • Pipelines Water
    • wagons/trailers
    • Wells (new improvements, fixes, replacement pumps)
    • Irrigation equipment
    • Livestock pond digging or dredging
    • Portable pasture fencing supplies
    • Fans
    • Mister
    • Livestock shade systems
    • Windbreaks
    • Lane improvements
  • Specialty crop operations
    • Water tanks
    • Pipelines
    • Water wagons/trailers
    • Wells (new improvements, fixes, replacement pumps)
    • Irrigation equipment (including drip irrigation)
    • Hoses
    • Soil moisture sensors
    • Nozzles
    • Rain barrels
    • Mulch plastic
    • Cover crops
    • Worker safety equipment (sun shades, water stations, etc.)
    • Hail netting

Ineligible Expenses 

• The following items are examples of expenses that are not eligible for reimbursement:
  • Expenditures incurred before the grant contract agreement is fully executed or after June 30, 2026
  • General purpose equipment (e.g., skid steer loaders, combines, tractors)
  • Owner and employee wages and benefits
  • Mileage and fuel
  • Fundraising
  • Taxes, except sales tax on goods and services and payroll taxes
  • Lobbyists, political contributions
  • Bad debts, late payment fees, finance charges, or contingency funds
  • Parking or traffic violations
  • Out of state transportation and travel expenses. Minnesota will be considered the home state for determining whether travel is out of state.

Eligible Projects

• If they accept your proposal, they will reimburse eligible costs included in your project budget. You will have to submit documentation including invoices and proof of payment.
• Projects must:
  • Include matching funds from personal or other non-State sources;
  • Be completed after the grant contract agreement is signed by all parties.
  • Be conducted in Minnesota.

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible Applicants:
  • Applicants must be a resident of the state of Minnesota or be a business entity authorized to farm in Minnesota. Also, applicants must be the principal operator of a livestock or specialty crop operation in Minnesota that produces and sells at least $1,000 of agricultural products annually or normally would sell at least $1,000 of livestock products in a typical year.
  • Grant contract agreements may be written with the principal operator or the farm business entity.
  • MDA employees, their spouses, and farms owned or principally operated by them are not eligible.
• Eligible Operations:
  • Livestock: aquaculture, bees, beef cattle, dairy cattle, swine, poultry, goats, mules, farmed cervids, ratites (including ostriches and emus), bison, sheep, horses, and llamas.
  • Specialty crops: fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture and nursery crops, and floriculture.

For more information, visit MDA.